There are a variety of products being sold in stores that are sealed by means of a clear plastic generally called a Skin or a Blister. The difference between the two is found in the word describing the process. A blister is a clear plastic cover that has actually been heated and then formed using a special mold and a vacuum. The heated plastic takes the shape of the mold after the vacuum is applied. Once the formed blisters cool they can be used. Blisters are placed over the product and glued to the board the product has been placed on. Skin packaging is another way to seal product to a printed board. Multiple products are placed on a special skin packaging (porous) board then a plastic film with a special glue is used to seal the product to the board by using heat and a vacuum. The board with its products attached is placed on a cutting die that is used to cut out the familiar sealed product cards we see in stores.
Goods that have been sealed in plastic skins or bubbles are getting heavier and hanging strips that are being used today just do not have a visible lock or the strength needed to safely support some of them. Locks and batteries as well as other items being sealed to cards can fall off strips such as the CLIP STRIP FOR SUPPORTING MULTIPLE PACKAGES AND DISPLAY ASSEMBLY USING SAME U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,578 Pendergraph et al. This flexible plastic hanging strip has a number of tab shapes cut into it that face up these are to receive the holes that are cut into the board of the blister packaged product. Other products can fall from the strip as a single item is being taken or if the strip is turned or inverted products can fall then as well. Looking at another hanging strip called the ADJUSTABLE STRIP MERCHANDISER U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,916 Valiulis we see the hanging strip made of flexible plastic with interlocking fingers spaced at intervals down the strip to accept the hole in the packaged goods. This particular strip had perforations which looked good but were to weak to support the load of goods intended to hang on it. In addition the fingers of the strip do not work well with some of the cutouts in the blister packs meant to hang on them. One of the later attempts of hanging strip construction is the INVERTED T TAB MEMBER HANGING STRIP U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,403 Crysdale.
The Crysdale strip has T-Shaped cutout portions for holding blister packaged items. According to the abstract it is made from a transparent non stretchable material and it has an inverted T that engages the article. We need to note here that the material the strip is made from has to be light enough to allow the T to be jammed into the hole in the product package. Also some products such as electronic calculators, or batteries or locks are too heavy a load for this strip and product could fall from it. Also the stiff nature of the material the strip is made from can act like a knife to cut away at the cutout in the product package causing a rip or tear there.
It is important for store owners and department managers to know that when goods are accessed by the customer only what is needed is released from the hanging strip unfortunately that is not always the case with the previously discussed inventions.